[wtc911]

I gather that as the war wore on, our guys became more like the Japanese troops, because that was the only way to take them down. They were, after all, religious fanatics dying for a living god, the Emperor. Don’t waste lives trying to take them prisoners: just kill them

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I suggest Richard Tregaskis' "Guadalcanal Diary" (the book not the film). He makes it clear that the Marines learned pretty quick to kill the Japs twice after a few incidents wherein 'dead' Japs got up and killed incautious Marines. The Marines would walk the dead zone and put another bullet into every Jap body.

[wbill]

One of my favorite books is "Semper Fi, Mac". It's a bunch of WWII Marine's recollections put together by Richard Berry. Berry interviewed a couple of dozen Marines, including Hank Bauer and Orville Freeman.

Great stuff. There's no substitute for hearing what the guys were thinking, and it's nice to see in its undistilled form. Historians sometimes do some selective editing.